Cover Letter

Submitted by six on Tue, 05/12/2015 - 13:00

I hold a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from the University of California, Irvine. I graduated Summa Cum Laude in June of 1999 and am a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honors organization. My study course specialized in operating system design, network design and compiler design.

My career since then has focused largely on the creation and management of web applications and software-as-a-service systems based on PHP, MySQL, Javascript and jQuery. I work comfortably with Mac, Linux and Windows, write my code in VIM and am comfortable in my ability to quickly pick up new frameworks and even entirely new languages if they're necessary for a particular project. The most recent major additions to my repertoire include the PHP based Yii MVC framework, the Javascript based Chrome platform API's and the Java based Android platform API's. I've chosen to use Drupal as the basis for this site because historically, the most sizable chunk of my work has focused on using Drupal as a framework on top of which to build more complex web apps.

I have extensive experience writing software that integrates with and leverages various third party API's to create very powerful and dynamic functionality, including but not limited to the Google Maps API, the Google Contacts API, the Google Spreadsheets API, eBay API, UPS Shipping API, and Facebook applications API. I also have experience dynamically generating graphically rich reports and charts using SVG vector graphics. Unfortunately, since much of my work has been on B2B web applications that are not public facing, I'm unable to link to it. For this reason, I've chosen to create a code demo showing off some of these capabilities in a neat little package. My resume is also available on this site.

A few downloadable samples of my code are available here. Additionally, a dynamically generated archive of the actual live code that runs my above-mentioned code demo is available here.

A number of my employers have voiced the opinion that my productivity levels are unusually high and that I seem capable of tackling projects that stump other programmers. To quote Christopher Spencer, author of The eBay Entrepreneur and my boss at The Spencer Company:

"What you make seem effortless is very hard for a lot of programmers and I am very impressed by you and you should be getting tons of work from your skills, which are unparalleled!"

I also have management experience in my past, having briefly served as the Chief Technical Officer of Vortal Group, the company behind PoliceAuctions.com in early 2008. While I only held that position for a few months, Bill Keck, the company's CEO commended me on my performance and told me he admired the degree to which I managed to assign my employees work that really played to their strong suits and the lengths I went to to make sure they were recognized for it.

I am passionate about freedom of speech, civil liberties, women's rights and LGBT rights. I'm also very passionate about music and play several musical instruments.